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The Cork and Macroom Direct Railway 1866-1953

Cork-Bishopstown-Ballincollig-Killumney-Kilcrea-Crookstown road-Dooniskey-Macroom

Then ..and now

This line was first built as a branch from the Cork & Bandon Railway, leaving that line at Ballyphelane and sharing the Cork terminus at Albert Quay, but operating as a separate company.

Relations with the Cork and Bandon Railway were never good and in 1879 the company built it's own terminus at Capwell. It was not until 1914 that a link between the two railways was rebuilt, under governement insistence and even then it was done grudgingly and through runnning was impossible.

At amalgamation the line was doing well, with good passenger traffic and military traffic from Ballincolling barracks. Uner the new regime the Cork terminus was again transferred to Albert Quay and the line began to decline rapidly as road traffic increased. It was too short a journey to rival the flexibility of road transport. The last regular passenger train ran in 1935 with occasional excursions and goods traffic until 1953. The Electricty Supply Board finally killed the line when their decision to build a hydro-electric plant and consequently large reservoirs along the Lee Valley would have flooded large stretches of the line.

It's a bit late now but Cork could probably use a suburban railway serving Ballingcollig and Bishopstown.

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